Repeating Folly

A number of years ago, retired NASA engineer Edgar C. Whisenant wrote a book called 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988. The book, which he self-published, placed the expected date of the Rapture between September 11 and September 13 of 1988, and became a massive bestseller. By the time the end of the year was reached, more than 4.5 million copies had been sold. Whisenant was certain he had the date right. He said, “Only if the Bible is in error am I wrong; and I say that to every preacher in town. I would stake my life on Rosh Hashanah 1988.”

Whisenant’s later books predicting the Rapture in 1989, 1993, and 1994 did not sell nearly as well as the first one—but he kept right on making those predictions despite the clear teaching of Scripture that we are not meant to know the date and time of Christ’s return.

Because we are only human, all of us are going to make mistakes. One of the things that sets fools apart, however, is that they continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. They never learn from their errors, no matter how painful their experiences may be. That is because they are committed to their folly.

“As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.” —Proverbs 26:11